An Overview of Wellbore Methods of Investigating Stress State of the Upper Layers of the Earth’s Crust

Abstract

An overview of wellbore methods of investigating the stress-strain state of the upper layers of the Earth’s crust is given in the paper. Some main methods of stress estimation from wellbore data are presented in the paper alongside with the analysis of applicability of these methods and uncertainty appearing after application. The reconstruction of stress profiles along the well trajectory based on information regarding wellbore breakouts and drilling-induced tensile fractures, information on the features of elastic waves’ propagation in the well surrounding rock masses, information on patterns in natural fractures’ spatial orientations and distributions is discussed in the paper. Estimation of stress state parameters based on minifracs and leak-off tests as well as on strain recovery techniques from oriented core samples from wells is also described here.